Dragon Age II platinum, Mass Effect 2 PC being offered for free

To celebrate its fantasy RPG selling 1 million units, BioWare is offering the Windows version of its multimillion-selling sci-fi RPG for free.

Given that its predecessor, Dragon Age: Origins, sold in excess of 3 million units, there was little doubt that Dragon Age II would also be a hit. So it wasn't a major surprise when BioWare announced today that the sequel has sold over 1 million units since its March 8 launch in North America. According to the Canadian developer, the follow-up reached the milestone at a faster rate than its forebear.

Dragon Age II sales have been energetic since its launch last month.

As a token of appreciation for its fans, BioWare is offering past and future purchasers of any new edition of Dragon Age II a free digital download of another of its hit role-playing games, Mass Effect 2. (This includes the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC editions of Dragon Age II.) The offer is good only for the PC edition of the latter title, which was released in early 2010 alongside the Xbox 360 edition of the game. (A PlayStation 3 version launched earlier this year.) Instructions on how to download the free edition of Mass Effect 2 can be found on the official Dragon Age II website. Anyone who previously purchased Dragon Age II on any platform should receive an e-mail explaining how they also can get Mass Effect 2 for free.

Published by BioWare owner Electronic Arts, Dragon Age II tells the story of Hawke, a survivor of the Blight that ravaged the first game. Set over a 10-year period, it chronicles his transformation from "a destitute refugee to the revered champion of the land." Although Hawke gains fame as the Champion of Kirkwall, the game will peer into his mysterious rise to power. The game also features new combat mechanics for the game's three classes: mage, warrior, and rogue.

Wow, I haven't read anything about DA2, and I'm shocked that they've simplified the game!
To be honest, Mass Effect 2 was a simplification of ME1, but it actually worked due to the setting and style of play. And not to mention a lot of people fell in love with ME2. Maybe Bioware thought the same would happen if they took the same route with DA2? Flawed logic though..
You can take a fairly new style of RPG (Mass Effect) and do whatever you want to it in the sequel. But if you make an RPG which gets closer to RPGs of old than anything else in recent times, you simply CAN'T take a different direction after that.
I really really don't get the decision. To me, Dragon's Age: Origins was meant to be the 'other side of the coin' to Mass Effect. One is for when you want a lighter, faster RPG experience, and the other for when you want to get into the nitty gritty of things and spend 2 hours on one quest. They complimented eachother well. I loved having both in my collection. But now, DA2? What's the point?
Sorry, bit of ranting!

well this is not cool , i bought DA 2 and it's crap . Now they turn to give me a MS2 copy without full DLC ??? No arrival , Lair of SB , Overload ... ???
fine i'll still download it and crack it ho ho ho

shooters125 of cource it is a marketing plot. Giving a game that costs about 30 $ for free is the way to go. But giving a game for free and that combined with pyracy is not a very successful way to profit.

I think the reason they're giving ME2 for a purchase of DA2 is just a big marketing ploy. ME2 isn't worth that much anymore so obviously EA let them give it out free with the purchase of DA2. I saw ME2 for $10 on Steam before, but that might have just been the christmas deal. They just want to get more sales for DA2 and ME2 DLC. Im not saying this is a bad thing, Im saying that they're doing this for more money. Of course, this is better than anything Activision would ever offer us.

I'm starting to feel like the minority when it comes to Dragon Age 2. I thought it was a very well done game and that Bioware had some good ideas, although I can still see where fans are coming from. Whereas DA:O was a Baldur's Gate style game and felt traditional, DA2 was more action oriented and streamlined many RPG elements. Not to mention, the story of one man's rise to power and corruption had a different feel than saving the land from an invading force. However, as a fan of the original, I enjoyed these changes and liked Hawke. Maybe the reception would have been better if they'd kept the tactical gameplay on the PC, but who knows.

@XxXtacy
Lol, I was thinking along the same lines as you, my mate is giving me his copy after he is done with it and he said the same as most on here, which was,
"Don't go buying this... as I really wish I bought Dead Space 2 instead, it is that bad!"
So too many bad reviews tells me to wait and purchase something else instead... I am really bummed oot at this game, I was really looking forward to it and now ...........? So why else would they be giving ME2 free with any new purchases, even if it is just for pc? Just another ploy to suck up to the fans they have p!55ed off big time.

@raahsnavj
"As a token of appreciation for its fans, BioWare is offering PAST and FUTURE purchasers of any new edition of Dragon Age II a FREE DIGITAL DOWNLOAD of another of its hit role-playing games, Mass Effect 2. (This includes the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC editions of Dragon Age II.) The offer is good only for the PC edition of the latter title)"
Sounds about right to me. Buy a current DA2, you get a code to get a free download of a FULL 60 dollar game for your PC. Does suck that they are not giving you ME2 for the PS3 or 360 as a part of this great deal.

@Shanks_D_Chop True...I was a bit confused as to why they went Dragon Age: Origins and then Dragon Age 2. It wasn't a direct sequel, but the marketing based on the name alone "sequalizes" it. But in terms of gameplay, characterization and storyline it's not a sequel. I wonder how it would look if Dragon Age went open-world where there was more of a focus on actually building your place in the world. As opposed to the game telling you how awesome you are. Maybe it was just me, but I didn't feel like the choices Hawke made during the game made him the super-epic character he was portrayed as. I really would like to see more variation in the gameplay. There should be the option to focus on stealth and theivery. LOL or maybe I'll contently wait for TES:V in November!

@HHKev84 Well... I guess what they should try to do now is maybe define a boundary between DA:O and DA2. Make them two different lines down the same franchise, one following this Hawke fella and one, returning to the Origins style, where you can import an old save and maybe have an Origins-esque choice at the start of how your character comes into the current situation, which could give some really interesting different paths just from what particular part of the world you start your play-through in and what events you deal with first. Add in all the other elements of choice and consequence that Origins had, trying to improve obviously, and I reckon you'd have one hell of a game that keeps on giving. And it would satisfy alot of the disgruntled masses.
But, they've gone and called it Dragon Age 2 haven't they. Should'a gone with a subtitle instead. Now I think it'll be kind of tricky. The Origins sequel couldn't be called 3, but then the sequel to DA2 would have to be and... it would be confusing and messy.

@Shanks_D_Chop:
" I can totally understand wanting to reach a new audience. But, it seems to me, what's the point of reaching a new audience if you give your old audience the middle finger on the way?"
HA! Well said, good argument. I don't personally feel that way, as a fan of DA:O...but I definately understand why and sympathize with others that would. Maybe they should return to their roots the third time around?

Would this be Bioware's attempt to try and please consumers, after the hugely disappointing sequel to Dragon Age? I haven't played the new DA2 as of yet and I was going to buy this last week until I read comments on here that the game really sucks in comparison to the 1st?
So following on from peoples thoughts and reading this article, it sounds to me... that Bioware is trying a little damage limitation technique, in order to keep the people happy and stop them abandoning completely...?

I've been quite interested to try out the PC version of ME2, having previously played the series on the 360. I was a tiny bit disappointed, however, that the DLC stuff I got for the 360 version didn't carry over- if I want to see Overlord or Shadow Broker on my PC, I'd have to buy them again, which I'm not going to do! Even so, with the 'free' DLC in there like Zaeed (sic?) and Firewalker, there's certainly plenty to do.
If you happen to be one of the fairly rare people who play DA but never tried ME, you're certainly in for a treat.

Um, buy this to get this other game is not 'free' - I understand the advertising scheme there, but I thought a news source would be better than EA's marketing department. "DA II goes platinum. DA II purchasers get ME 2 for free." - There that is the title without looking like EA marketing tools.

@MrSelf-Destruct
" But is it really so wrong to expect a company to have standards enough to build on previous endevours instead of just downplaying them"
True...I guess I just don't see it the same way. I see it as reaching to a new, wider audience. I think they tried very hard to give the series more steam and to ensure it's survival over the next few installments (perhaps)...I can see why fans are upset. The only thing I wasn't happy about was the lack of lore... it felt too action-oriented. I didn't feel like there was any way out of most situations except for killing everybody.

For goodness' sake people... IT. IS. CHEAPER. TO. BUY. ME2. ON. IT'S. OWN. I'm seeing alot of comments like "Oh cool, buy a good game and get a great one free!" Fair enough. Or, if you haven't yet got ME2, buy it for a third of the price of DA2, enjoy it, play it to death and then, when you are done with ME2, DA2 will probably have dropped to a more reasonable price and/or there will be a ultimate edition with all the DLC. Smarter economics.

@towely62: lmao. Just may be I spent more time playing better games on my PS3, and I'm not a moron that gets sucked into buying every single game there is. That could be the reason behind my "low" gamer score. Besides, there is more to gaming than being a throphy whore, as gamer scores mean jack sh*t. No I lie, gamer scores mean that you have such low-self esteme that you have to play the same crappy games over and over again just to get the crappy throphies. You really should get out more if that is the best you can do.

This was a great idea. First, the majority of people who bought DA2 most likely already own ME2. Second, this is a great promotion for people who never played ME2 to get them excited for ME3. Finally, this will clam down the swarm of angry bees who feel cheated by DA2's major shortcomings.

For those of you wondering, you do get the Cerberus Network DLC for free. It is located under "Your registered game content" on the bioware social website. You just have to go download the dlcs.
I can't say that this offer is all that awesome, seeing as how most people already own ME2 on their platform of choice, along with all the DLC. I have it on the 360, but didn't want to play it on the pc badly enough to actually pay for it. Cool for me, but not anything that is going to take away the slap in the face that DA2 was to the diehard fans of DA:O.

@NightDrifter05 you must not have read many of the comments. for a lot of people it may be too little too late for mass effect 2 because we own it. if you get it, give it to a friend who would like to play it. that is what i am doing.

UPDATE!!!
As of right now, (Email received from EA Confirms)
ANY VERSION of DAII purchased from ANY RETAILER will get you the PC VERSION of ME2.
If you have a PS3 or XBOX 360 version (or intend to buy one) you just need to go to the http://social.bioware.com/me2offer and enter the ONLINE PASS CODE from the box.
Again, this applies to PS3, XBOX 360, and PC owners, however the Mass Effect 2 Download is for PC Only.

Man, people will complain about ANYTHING! A game company is giving you a free copy of a triple A title that's barely a year old and that's not good enough?
Also, I know people who have played DA:O and DA II but have not played ME 1 or 2. Some people like fantasy over sci-fi so they just never gave it a try. Now they will. It's a cool deal and everyone should quit complaining.

its a shame you cant give away something free with scrutiny. the game is highly rated, and flew off shelves like a... dragon! HA! anyone think they are giving away copies of this game for what many folks' intentions are? they KNOW many of us have either dragon age, or mass effect 2, or BOTH, so they want you to give away the key for mass effect 2 PC so folks will understand why WE are fans. you folks are pretty sad for thinking it is a joke or a way to move units. get a life, play the game, or do not, and quit griping. heck, a free game and you all thinks its a joke, or not worth it. depressing. would you fancy a blu ray player or something? ugh.

@01-cannon-mpc yes, you are the only one who thinks this is an april fools joke, especially since this article came out april 5th, and many people, including myself, have already recieved our free copies of ME2.
Whatever their reasons, it's still pretty cool that they gave a relativily new game out for free.

im_back
I agree with you 100%. I already own Mass Effect 2 on PC and PS3 and I also own Dragon Age 2 so this is pointless for me. I would have much rather had them give me a choice Mass Effect 2 or all the Mass Effect 2 DLC.